The Board of the Authority expanded to five members

The selection process for the two new Vice Presidents of the Integrity Authority has been concluded. The President of the State Audit Office recommended that the President of the Republic appoint Dr Erika Bozzay and Dr Gabriella Nagy-Fribiczer. As a result, the Board of the Authority will not comprise five members: the president and the four vice presidents.

The two new vice-president nominees will join the current Board comprising President Ferenc Biró and Vice Presidents Dr Kálmán Dabóczi and Tímea Holbusz.

The expansion of the Board was provided for by this year’s amendment to the Integrity Authority Act, which also considerably expanded the Authority’s functions and powers. Under the new regulatory framework, which entered into force on 26 August, the Authority was granted, among other things, exclusive authority to verify the content and completeness of declarations of assets submitted by senior public office-holders and government officials, as well as their relatives, together with the right to effective access to data necessary to carry out such verification. Furthermore, the Authority was granted new review powers and enhanced powers relating to public procurement procedures.

“The expansion of powers, first and foremost, means greater responsibility, especially now, with the arrival of substantial amounts of EU funds. The expansion of the Board is an organisational response to these increased responsibilities: the Authority’s leadership is being strengthened with the addition of two new vice presidents”, said Ferenc Pál Biró, President of the Integrity Authority. “Both nominees for the positions of vice president bring decades of professional experience and distinguished careers.

I am particularly delighted that Dr Gabriella Nagy-Fribiczer, after having worked at the Authority’s Professional Directorate, is now assuming a new role. This also demonstrates that the Authority’s community of experts has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience on which the organisation can build as it takes on its expanded remit. I am proud that over the past three years, we have built a strong, impartial and highly professional team that will also perform its new duties consistently and responsibly.

Dr Erika Bozzay is joining the Authority’s leadership as nominee for the position of vice president, bringing substantial domestic and international leadership experience in areas such as public procurement, integrity, anti-corruption policies, and public financial management. During her period of more than a decade at the OECD, she supported public procurement and integrity reforms in numerous countries and directly participated in international initiatives aimed at addressing corruption risks and developing public procurement systems. The Authority has also developed close professional ties with her over the past few years.

A common trait of the new vice-president nominees is their outstanding expertise in the area of public procurement. This can not only strengthen the Authority’s investigative, audit and risk-analysis activities but also contribute to identifying recurring, systemic problems in the public procurement system and developing potential solutions to address them. In this area, the Authority intends to play an active professional role both in the preparation of legislation and in the renewal of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

Since its foundation, the Integrity Authority has been continuously expanding its investigative activities, which have covered the use of HUF 913 billion in European Union funding to date. Following its investigations, the Authority has initiated irregularity proceedings, filed criminal complaints, submitted motions for revision, and made recommendations to address systemic problems.  

As the Authority’s powers expand, not only does its toolkit grow, but so too do its responsibilities – all at a time when European Union funds that had previously been withheld from Hungary are now becoming available to the country once again. The greater the amount of funding received and the shorter the time available for its utilisation, the higher the risks for corruption and the higher the stakes in making sure that the funds are subject to timely and meaningful oversight, with appropriate consequences applied where necessary. The expansion of the Board is an institutional response to these increased responsibilities.